The prosecutor’s office for the Eastern District of New York suspects that Chinese intelligence officers were trying to gather information about the legal proceedings against Huawei Technologies.
Guochun He and Zheng Wang allegedly attempted to obstruct the investigation, including by attempting to bribe a US law enforcement official with $61,000 worth of bitcoin, the regulator said.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland linked the announcement to two other actions taken by prosecutors in New York and New Jersey, who have filed charges against a number of individuals working for the Chinese government on various charges of surveillance and harassment. The testimony, signed by FBI Supervisory Special Agent Thomas Ryder, mentions cryptocurrencies several times.
In the protocol, the suspects called the giving of a bribe with bitcoins “a safe way to pay a US law enforcement officer”: “I suggest that you exchange bitcoins for cash privately and securely at one of the casinos in Las Vegas.
” According to testimony, the defendants paid officials in bitcoin in two transactions of $20,000 and $41,000. One of the transactions allegedly was payment for familiarization with a classified document that was supposed to help in the Huawei case.
Last week, the US Department of Justice announced that it suspects five Russian citizens and two Venezuelan citizens of laundering money received through bitcoin from a criminal scheme to sell oil to the sanctions company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA).
